Biographical Information

W.
Herbert Dunton

(1878-1936)

W. Herbert Dunton 1925Courtesy Fenn Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico

W. Herbert ("Buck") Dunton was born
William Herbert Dunton on August 28, 1878 on the family farm near Augusta, Maine. His parents were William
Henry and Anna Katherine Pillsbury Dunton. In his childhood years, he spent a great deal
of time in the Maine woods with his Grandfather Pillsbury. This sparked an interest in
hunting, animals, and the outdoors, that lasted a lifetime.

A life changing event occurred in 1896 when he ventured to Montana. He fell in love with the
West and for the next fifteen years made summer trips to Wyoming,
Colorado, Oregon, New Mexico, Montana, and Mexico where he cowboyed and
hunted. During these trips,
Dunton contributed pen and ink drawings to local newspapers.

After a stint at the Cowles Art School in Boston
in 1897, and further studies with Andreas M. Andersen, William L.
Taylor, and Joseph Rodefer DeCamp, Dunton began his illustration career
in earnest. He married in 1900, moved to New York in 1903, and his
illustration career boomed. In 1908, Dunton was elected to the artists'
social fraternity, the Salmagundi Club, and around 1911 he continued his
studies at the Art Students League under Frederick C. Yohn, Frank V.
DuMond, and Ernest Blumenschein.

Mr. Dunton was an accomplished artist at an early age.
He illustrated for Harper's, Schribners, and
many other magazines. He also created artwork for many books. Examples of these can be
viewed at this site.

Dunton
was becoming strained from the pressures associated with being a
commercial illustrator. In June of 1912, Ernest Blumenschein suggested to Dunton that he visit Taos,
New Mexico. After this initial visit, and another the following year, W. Herbert
Dunton permanently relocated to Taos in 1914. This is where he was able to thrive as
a western illustrator, combining his two loves -- hunting and painting. It is Ernest
Blumenschein who can be given the credit for getting Mr. Dunton to this environment.

Beginning
that year (1914) his paintings were accepted to the annual exhibitions
at the National Academy of Design at New York, the Pennsylvania Academy
of the Fine Arts at Philadelphia, and the Art Institute of Chicago, a
practice he continued until 1935.

In a 1913 interview, W. Herbert Dunton stated,
"This is the ideal place for me because there are more varieties of atmosphere than I
have found in any other place. . . . There are several varieties of sage and cactus for
backgrounds, according to the elevation that you choose. The Taos Indians are as fine
types as I have ever seen and if one wants to paint a Mexican picture he can get a
background almost anywhere near Taos".

Although he thrived creatively in his western environment, by leaving his
old career he forfeited the sure income of commercial illustration and
lived in near poverty for the rest of his life.

Buck Dunton on Horse, 1916Courtesy Bob Evans

In
July 1915, Dunton helped found the Taos Society of Artists with
Berninghaus, Blumenschein, Couse, Phillips, and Sharp, and exhibited
with the Taos Society all over the United States during its annual
exhibition circuits. He resigned from the Society in 1922, however,
perhaps because of a disparaging remark made by Walter Ufer about
Blumenschein.

Forced to market his work alone, between
1922 and the early 1930s Dunton arranged one-man exhibitions in places
such as Kansas City, Missouri; Tulsa and Ponca City, Oklahoma; and the
major cities in Texas: Amarillo, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Galveston,
Houston, and San Antonio. In 1923 he was commissioned to paint three
murals for the Missouri State Capitol

With the effects of the Depression
affecting sales, Dunton turned to portrait drawings and lithography to
make art that was affordable during lean times. He also painted under
the Public Works of Art Project in New Mexico.

Dunton's health began to decline as early
as 1928 when he was injured by a "rambunctious mare" and
suffered from duodenal ulcers. His health continued to deteriorate and,
in 1935, prostrate cancer was discovered followed by diagnoses of
stomach and lung cancer. On March 18, 1936, W. Herbert "Buck"
Dunton died at Taos at age 57.

His personal philosophy can be
heard in this statement by him, "There is one thing positive, had I lived in
Merriweather Lewis's, Audubon's or even as late as Catlin or Francis Parkman's day, no
life of mine would be thrown away painting pictures, when I could live the greater part of
a year alone with my rifle and a few pack animals among the host of buffalo -- the
antelope, the great bands of elk . . . "

"Personally,
he was a true western character -- not quite a hero, but an independent man of action. He
missed the company of heroic figures or men of pure intent that he assumed had occupied
the real West, but certainly inhabited the mythic West. Dunton's nostalgia underlies much
of his work . . . 'Yesterday' was Dunton's preferred world. Whether it was inhabited by
scouts, prospectors or cowboys, he saw a world in which physical skill accomplished the
day's tasks, a meal was right at the end of a gun or fishing pole, and distinctions
between right and wrong were simply made." (February 1988 Sports Afield)

6" x 9 1/4, opening in matte. Original photo of William Herbert "Buck"
Dunton, the western painter and illustrator in front of his studio in
Taos, New Mexico circa 1910. Photographer unknown. Photo is in fine
condition, frame in good condition. This photograph is from the collection of Judge Oliver Seth, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Offered on ebaY,
Nov. 4, 2000. Asking price was $300

On a genealogical note, he had at least one brother, John
Pillsbury Dunton,
who was born on March 7, 1881. W. Herbert Dunton married Nellie Gertrude Hartley and through this
union was rewarded with two children -- a daughter Vivian Ernestine born July 19, 1907 and
died March 1987, and a son, Ivan Hartley Dunton, born October 22, 1913 and died September
1987.

The following photographs depict Buck
Dunton painting a major work called "The Ranchman's
Daughter". The paintings whereabouts are to date unknown.

The model is W. Herbert Dunton's niece,
Ada Hartley and date to 1916 when she visited her Aunt Nellie and Uncle
Buck in Taos.

Much of the above biography was from "W. Herbert Dunton: A Retrospective", by Michael R.
Grauer, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas, 1991 (note: This
publication still available. Contact the author at
mgrauer@pphm.wtamu.edu for details)
as well as an update biography written in 1997 and submitted to
us by Michael.

"The Art and Life of W. Herbert Dunton", by Julie Schimmel, Stark Museum
of Art, Orange, Texas